Easy-going, tactless, inefficient in monetary matters, Gregory was cheated and deceived to the point that Demosthenes, governor of Pontus, accused him of stealing Church property and had him imprisoned. He escaped, but was deposed by a synod of bishops in 376. He wandered in exile for two years, then was restored to his see.

Attended the Council of Antioch. Fought the Meletian heresy. Participated in the second ecumenical Council at Constantinople as a theologian. Fought Arianism and reaffirmed the decrees of the Council of Nicaea. The council called him, “Father of the Fathers” because he was widely venerated as the great pillar of orthodoxy and the great opponent of Arianism. Father of the Church.

There is some debate about Gregory’s relationship with his wife following his episcopal consecration. Some say he continued to live with her, but SaintJerome says that the eastern churches did not permit this.